Bulk bins, which are a kind of heavy-duty paperboard container, are usually used to contain meat or other product as to which an ordinary box/case lacks sufficient strength. Because of its special function, the paperboard of bulk bin is thicker and also heavier than typical paperboard, and the formation of the bulk bin is therefore more difficult.
Known bulk bin forming methods in general are manual or semi-automatic. One attempt can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,624,368, in which a folded bulk bin was opened with the aid of a simple machine. Another attempt was found in U.S. Pat. No. 7,681,781, which introduced a manual way to open and seal the bottom of the bulk bin. The common problem of all such attempts are, they are not fully automatic to open the main wall and seal the bottom wall of the bulk bin with the main wall and therefore, obviously, it takes longer time and manpower to make a bulk bin. The productivity of such forming methods way is not high.
In another attempt, an automatic machine under U.S. Pat. No. 7,381,176 is made to form a collapsible bulk bin. The machine picks up the side of the collapsed main wall and glues the bottom wall with the flaps of the collapsed main wall. This machine is designed to form a collapsible bulk bin, in other words, the completed bulk bin is not a fully formed ready to pack type bin. When this type of bulk bin needs to be used, workers need to open it from a collapsible condition. In addition, the method shown in the patent consists of several separate machines working together and therefore, it needs more factory space to install the whole set of machines which is not an economy of space.
It would be desirable to provide a bulk bin forming system and method that is fully automated and erects and constructs the bulk bin at a single station from a collapsed body blank and a bottom blank.